Michael Gove has made a pitch to be in Boris Johnson’s cabinet regardless of whether it pursues a no-deal Brexit and has lavished praise on his former bitter rival who stands on the brink of becoming prime minister.

Gove set out his view that Johnson and Jeremy Hunt would be “great prime ministers” and claimed “we can trust them both to do the right thing on every critical issue”. His attempt to bury the hatchet with Johnson, who is likely to enter No 10 next week, comes three years after Gove sank his former friend’s last leadership bid with a stinging character attack.